-u-

• IPA^(key): /u/
• Rhymes: -u
• Syllabification: u

-u-

1. (rare, not productive) used in compound words

   pies + brat → psubrat

• -i-, -o-, -y-

• -u- in Wielki słownik języka polskiego, Instytut Języka Polskiego PAN
• -u- in Polish dictionaries at PWN

In almost all words from Old Swedish -u, -o, from the Old Swedish genitive form of Germanic feminine ōn-stems.

Alternates with -o- according to Old Swedish rules of syllable weight, where -o was used after heavy syllables and -u after light.

• IPA^(key): /ɵ/

-u-

1. Genitival interfix used to link elements in some compounds.

• Used as interfix in compounds with some old weak feminines with a former light syllable ending in -a. Some common ones are gata (“street”), e.g. gatukontor (“highway department”); lada (“barn”), e.g. ladusvala (“barn swallow”), etc.
• Alternates with a zero interfix (vowel deletion) in some words, cf. gatukontor (“highway department”), but gatlykta (“street lamp”).
• The interfix was formerly mostly confined to the written literary language, whereas the spoken colloquial language preferred compounds with no -u- or with -e- in some dialects, cf. dated stugudörr with modern stugdörr, and the common pronunciation lagård for ladugård (“barn”). However, for some words, -u- is common in compounds even in the modern spoken language.

• -o-
• -s-
• -a-
• -e-

• Teleman, Ulf; Hellberg, Staffan; Andersson, Erik & Holm, Lisa (1999). Svenska akademiens grammatik 2 Ord. Stockholm: Svenska akad.
• Wessén, Elias (1958). Svensk språkhistoria. 2, Ordbildningslära. 3. ed. Stockholm: Almqvist & Wiksell